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Crowdfunding Examples - Holiday Tech 2015

    by Douglas Dixon

 


          

Contents

See also:

  

  


Crowdfunding


  • New Possibilites for Holiday Giving
    • More personal, more fun -- follow your passions
    • Examples for seasonal donations and holiday shopping

  • Crowdfunding Types
    • Donation - Fundraising / Charity - GoFundMe, DonorsChoose, CrowdRise, Generosity
    • Rewards - Creative projects - KickStarter, Indiegogo, RocketHub
  • Terminology
    • Project / Campaign - Creator / Sponsor
    • Funding - Funding Goal - Funding Period
    • Backers / Donors - Pledge - Rewards - Stretch Goals
  • Scale
    • GoFundMe - $1 billion raised in past year - $4M raised per day - millions of donors
      • College shooting $814K / 24K donors; Texas deputy $370K / 5K donors
    • DonorsChoose - $376 million raised, 2M donors, 650K projects funded -36K active projects
      • 68% U.S. public schools have at least one teacher who has posted a project
    • Kickstarter - $2 billion pledged, 9M backers, 95K projects - 6K active projects
      • Pebble smartwatch - $10M 2012 + $20M 2015
    • Indiegogo - 275K campaigns, 224 countries - 7K active, 15M visitors per month
      • Flow Hive $12M 2015, Super Troopers 2 $4.7M
      • Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel $5M - Hour of Code $5M 2014

    

  


Fundraising Examples


  • Direct donations / fundraising - Individual and organizations

  

  


Donations - Accidents / Personal Crisis    


  • House Fire
  • Raised $5700+ of $5000 goal - from ~100 people
  • 1st  day - $2300 / 35 people
  • 2nd day - $4200 / 70 people
  • 6th  day - $5400 / 90+ people
  • Average donation $60 - range $10 to $500
  • 1/3 left comments -1/3 anonymous
  • 40% town, 60% area, 5% out of state
  • Issues
    • No guarantees - No vetting - Promises by project creator/sponsor - Social trust
    • Not tax deductable - Direct donations to individuals
    • Fees - Typically 5% fee for platform, plus 3-5% for third-party payment partner

  

  


Fundraising - Birdhouse Center For The Arts    

  • Birdhouse Center For The Arts, Lambertville NJ
  • Founded in 2012 - Music Therapy - Education - Performance
  • www.birdhousecenter.org
  • Renovated canal barn building
  • Needed to complete: water, accessible bathroom, supplies
  • 127 backers pledged $15,917 of $15,000 goal
  • Funding May 9 2013 - Jun 8 2013 (30 days)

Top  

  

  


Music Funding Examples


  • Fundaising to record CD - Project - Tangible reward

  

  


Charity / And That Happened - Jack Furlong    

  • And That Happened - Jack Furlong Quartet
  • Jack Furlong (baritone & tenor sax), Sean Gough (piano),
    Pat Kelley (bass), John O'Keefe (drums)
  • Contemporary, cool jazz
  • February 2011
  • 68 funders - $3,050 raised towards $3,000 goal ($10, $20)

Find And That Happened
on Amazon.com

  • Charity
  • Jack Furlong (tenor sax) and Sean Gough (piano)
  • Popular Christian hymns set in a jazz setting
  • All proceeds donated to three different charities
  • November 2013
  • 82 funders - $4,000 raised towards $4,000 goal ($10, $20)
  • $10 - Digital download MP3s
  • $20 - Autographed CD
  • $35 - Live webcam concert
  • ... $500 - Live house concert

Find Charity
on Amazon.com

Jack Furlong Orchestra

  • Jack Furlong Orchestra
  • Jazz, classic standards, hint of pop
  • 3 saxes, 2 trumpets, trombone,
  • guitar, piano, bass, drums, 2 vocalists

  

  


My Cup Runneth Over - The Piano Works of R. Nathaniel Dett    

  • First complete collection of piano works by R. Nathaniel Dett
  • Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)
  • Composer, pianist, teacher, poet, and writer
  • First American composer to fuse African American folk idioms
    with the European art music tradition in a sophisticated way
  • See Wikipedia

Find My Cup Runneth Over
on Amazon.com

YouTube audio

  • Clipper Erickson, pianist
  • Westminster Conservatory and Temple University
  • Prize winner of international competitions
  • Performed as soloist with orchestras and in recitals
    all over Europe and the United States
  • clippererickson.com
  • 63 backers pledged $6,352 of $6,000 goal
  • Funding Apr 26 2015 - Jun 25 2015 (60 days)
  • Recording sessions completed May 2015

Site Differences

  • "All-or-nothing"
    • Fixed Funding - Campaign funded only if reaches goal
  • "Keep what you raise"
    • Flexible Funding - Creator keeps all pledges even if campaign does not reach goal

Passion

  • Raising funds vs. advance sales
  • "People don't fund your project, they fund your passion for your project"

Top

  

  


Patronage Examples


  • Recurring funding - Patron of the arts

  

  


Shayla Maddox - Light Reactive Paintings    

Light Reactive Paintings

  • Light changes the color and effect of each piece
  • Change appearance throughout the day, season, and year
  • Light reactive into UV spectrum - glow in darkness
  • Also fine art metallic photo prints
  • Phosphorescent pigments - w/ acrylic, sand, crushed glass,
    garnet, quartz, sea shells, candle wax, cinnamon, salt
  • Each piece takes many months to complete

Reward levels

  • Creating Paintings . Art . Light
  • 100 patrons - $1700 per month
  • $1 / mo - Access to Patron-only posts [40]
  • $5 / mo - One-hour digital hangouts [30]
  • $15 / mo - One original watercolor [3]
  • $25 / mo - Art care-packages [14]
  • $50 / mo - "Made with wonder and magic" [2]
  • $100 / mo - "I vow that I will repay your encouragement
        with hard work and a fighting spirit" [3]

Patreon

  • $2 million funding per month, 10K creators, 250K patrons

 

  

  


Product Examples


  • Donation-based funding of creative projects - Reward levels

  

  


Brookstone - Axent Wear - Cat Ear Headphones   

  • Premium headphones for private listening
  • External cat ear speakers for sharing music
  • LED accent lights around earcups and on cat ear speakers
  • Detachable boom mic for gaming

Find the Cat Ear Headphones
on Amazon.com

 

  • Independent controls for speakers and lights
  • Over-the-ear cushioned earcups for noise reduction and a secure fit
  • Cable has inline volume control plus forward & back buttons
  • USB rechargeable - up to 5 hours of playing time per charge
  • Improvements
    • Detachable boom mic (stretch goal)
    • Shorter extendable headband, sound quality, brighter colors
  • $2,000 donation packs - 2 headphones - plus custom paint job
    or custom digital painting of you “or your character” wearing them, .
  • $10,000 pack - personalized painting, custom paint job,
    and custom LED light colors (changing or color of your choice)

 

 

Brookstone

  

  


3DMonstr - Large, Industrial-grade 3D Printer    

  • 3DMonstr - West Windsor, NJ
  • Next generation industrial-grade, quad-extruder 3D printer
  • Four independent extruders, independent temperature controls
  • Gantry-style - Prints fine detail, large build volume (1 - 8 cubic feet)
  • Upgradeable, foldable; Modular, for maintenance and upgradability
  • 3dmonstr.com
  • Start at $2,499
  • 102 backers pledged $89,806 of $35,000 goal
  • ~ 19 printers sold - 1/2 U.S.
  • Funding Dec 23 2013 - Jan 27 2014 (35 days)
  • Original estimated delivery May 2014
  • Current estimate Q1 2016 for pre-orders

Top

  

  


Tech Projects


  

  


The NoPhone ZERO    

The NoPhone

  • "Plastic rectangle
        for people who are addicted to rectangular devices
    "
  • Thin, light and completely wireless design
  • Technology-free alternative to constant hand-to-phone contact
  • Allows you to stay connected with the real world
  • Selfie upgrade - Reflective mirror sticker
  • The world's least popular phone company
  • www.thenophone.com

The NoPhone (9/2014)

  • Technology free mobile phone - Less-is-more
  • Originally unsuccessful - Staff Pick
    • 549 backers pledged $10,021 of $30K goal ($12)
    • Sep 11 2014 - Oct 11 2014 (30 days)
  • Relaunched - 915 backers pledged $18,316 of $5,000 goal ($12)
    • Funding Oct 14 2014 - Oct 29 2014 (15 days)

NoPhone ZERO (9/2015)

  • "Least advanced NoPhone ever" - Has zero features
  • 130 backers pledged $1,239 of $500 goal ($5)
  • Funding Sep 9 2015 - Oct 9 2015 (30 days) - Funded in 2 days

Find the NoPhone
on Amazon.com

Top

  

  


Literature


  

  


Programming Languages ABC++    

  • Alphabet book all about coding
  • Fun for both toddlers and their grown up counterparts
  • From Ada to Zimbu, every letter highlights a code language
    with a “Hello World” program
  • Alex Papadimoulis / Inedo - Software tools
  • 886 backers pledged $21,084 of $5,000 goal ($10)
  • Funding May 6 2015 - Jun 11 2015 (36 days)
  • inedo.com/abc
  • Pages - Each Letter
  • $11.95

Find Programming Languages ABC++
on Amazon.com

  

  


Australia to Zimbabwe - A Rhyming Romp Around the World    

  • Children's A-Z book - Whirlwind romp around the globe
  • Explores 24 countries through rhyming introductions to their culture
  • Fun activities including crafts, recipes and games

Find Australia to Zimbabwe
on Amazon.com

  

  


Great Adaptations - A children's book about evolution   

  • Science can be more fantastical than fiction!
  • Imagine if Dr. Seuss met Mr. Darwin and wrote a book...
  • Children's book that uses verse and illustration
    to tell amazing stories about evolution
  • Breadpig - Tiffany Taylor, evolutionary biology
  • 1,620 backers pledged $52,026 of $25,000 goal ($15)
  • Funding Feb 12 2014 - Mar 14 2014 (30 days)
  • breadpig.com
  • $15 hardcover

Find Great Adaptations
on Amazon.com

  

  


The Illuminated Edda   

  • The greatest Viking epics - the Poetic and Prose Eddas
  • Icelandic / Norse mythology from 1000 years ago
  • Retold with entertaining storytelling and full-color illustration
  • Stretch goals: Game preview, Tapestries
  • Andrew Valkauskas - Viking games and books
  • 389 backers pledged $21,921 CAD of $2,900 goal ($30)
  • Funding May 7 2015 - May 31 2015 (24 days)

  

  


Let's Add a Million Missing Words to the Dictionary    

  • Every word of English deserves to be lookupable!
  • We want to find a million words that haven't been included in major English dictionaries and give them each a home on the Internet
  • Search for casual definitions that have already been written
  • "Free-range definitions" - self-defining, explanatory sentences
  • 52% of English lexicon is undocumented in standard references
  • Comparing Google Books to major dictionaries
  • Wordnik
  • 726 backers pledged $58,407 of $50,000 goal ($25 adopt a word)
  • Sep 15 2015 - Oct 17 2015 (31 days)
  • https://www.wordnik.com/

Top

  

  


Film & Video


  

  


Magna Carta: Our Shared Legacy of Liberty    

  • The story of Magna Carta, foundation of our rights, sealed 1215
  • Freedom’s unlikely origins, remarkable triumphs, modern challenges
  • Guarantees included in the laws and constitutional order
    of the English-speaking world
  • Follow-up to The Great War Remembered - WW1 (2014)
  • John Robson & Brigitte Pellerin - broadcasters, professor, producer...
  • 1,222 backers pledged $85,870 CAD of $75,000 goal ($25)
  • Funding Jan 30 2015 - Mar 16 2015 (45 days)
  • Digital and DVD
  • www.magnacartadocumentary.com

Top

  

  


Fashion


  

  


The Quarter Century Jacket | A 25 Year Guarantee    

  • Premium fabric, highest quality, 25 year guarantee
  • Made in America
  • Follow up to The Quarter Century Pants
  • RPMWEST
  • 1,145+ backers pledged $194,985+ of $20,000 goal ($159)
  • Funding Oct. - Nov. 2015
  • rpmwest.com

  

  


8-in-1 EVOLUTION BRA: The World's Most Advanced Bra    

  • The most comfortable, versatile, and technologically advanced bra
  • Patented wire free construction, odorless, quick dry & reversible
  • Knix Wear - Women's Athletic Seamless Underwear
  • 13,642 backers pledged $1,105,177 of $30,000 goal ($42)
  • Funding Sep 14 2015 - Oct 24 2015 (40 days)
  • www.knixwear.com/pages/evolution-bra

Top

  

  


Product Design


  

  


The Pint - A Canteen That Converts to a Cup    

  • Camping bottle that converts to a cup
  • Easy to clean insulated stainless steel water bottle
  • Stable Goods - Matty - Industrial Designer
  • 1,328+ backers pledged $70,111+ of $10,000 goal ($26)
  • Funding Oct. - Nov. 2015
  • stablegoods.co

Top

  

   


See also:

Top